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Gilbert to buy 4 more downtown Detroit properties

Photo by CoStar Group Inc.
The sale price of the former Bates Garage site at 126 Monroe St. at Randolph Street in Detroit is $1.5 million, according to DDA board documents.

Dan Gilbert is buying four more Detroit central business district properties, this time from the Downtown Development Authority, whose board approved selling the buildings Wednesday afternoon.

Laura Biehl, public relations manager for Gilbert's Rock Ventures LLC, said Gilbert has not yet closed on the purchases of the former Bates Garage site at 126 Monroe St. at Randolph Street and three buildings at 1322, 1326 and 1332 Broadway, north of Gratiot Avenue.

The Broadway buildings are being sold for $500,000, while the Monroe Street site sale price is $1.5 million, according to DDA board documents.

The DDA on Wednesday approved an agreement that says Gilbert's team approached the DDA about the Broadway buildings to “redevelop them in a manner” similar to lofts proposed by Signature Lofts Development LLC, the owner of 1322 Broadway; the DDA owns 1326 and 1332 Broadway.

Gilbert's team is required to begin construction on those within nine months of closing on the buildings and have the projects completed within two years of closing, according to DDA documents.

The Signature Lofts development project failed because it couldn't secure financing, according to the DDA.

The closing date has not yet been set, but according to DDA documents, development of the Bates Garage site is required within 18 months of the closing. A final development agreement is required by Dec. 31.

Biehl had no further details about redevelopment of any of the properties, but DDA documents say the development plan “may permit the construction of a parking facility … so long as the building contains substantial first floor retail/commercial space” on Monroe and Randolph streets.

If the development plan for the Bates Garage site (the previous garage was demolished) is for a parking structure, it “must be designed to support the improvements of at least four stories on top of the parking facility although such improvements need not be constructed at the time the parking facility is constructed or at anytime thereafter.”

The building at 1322 Broadway is 8,900 square feet, while 1326 Broadway is 5,200 square feet and 1332 Broadway is 12,600 square feet, according to Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service CoStar Group Inc.

It's not clear when the building at 1322 Broadway was built, but 1326 Broadway was built in 1900 and 1332 Broadway was built in 1919, according to CoStar.

Crain’s first reported last year that Gilbert was considering purchasing the Bates Garage site, of which the DDA took ownership of in 2010. Other previous owners include Greektown Casino-Hotel and Detroit-based Sterling Group.

The 42,000-square-foot building at 119 State St., at the corner of Shelby Street, was listed for $3 million, while the 10,000-square-foot Church Building at 45 W. Grand River Ave. at the corner of Griswold Street was listed for $1.5 million, according to CoStar.

Biehl last week declined to disclose the sale prices on the two buildings and vacant lot, which is located at 28 W. Grand River Ave. at the corner of Griswold.

Gilbert, the founder and chairman of Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc. and Rock Ventures LLC, now has a real estate portfolio of more than 50 buildings totaling more than 8 million square feet. He has spent more than $1.3 billion buying and renovating property in Detroit, mostly in the central business district.